OAKLAND, Calif. — The courtroom fight between Elon Musk and OpenAI leadership is framed as a dispute over OpenAI’s nonprofit origins and the promises Musk says were made when the company began, but testimony has repeatedly brought the jury face-to-face with broader questions about artificial intelligence risks.
At the center of the trial is a legal clash between two Silicon Valley founders who each say they are aiming to protect humanity while also seeking legal remedies that could reshape control over OpenAI’s direction. Musk, now the world’s richest person, sued after years of public falling-out with former friends Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, accusing Altman and OpenAI leaders of betraying promises tied to OpenAI’s charitable structure. Altman, who had not yet testified at the time of the reporting, counters that Musk is trying to hobble the ChatGPT maker for the benefit of his own AI company.
Even as the jury of nine people from the San Francisco Bay Area is tasked with settling the legal dispute, concerns about what advanced AI could do to society have surfaced throughout the proceedings. The judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, warned lawyers that the court was not trying the “safety risks of artificial intelligence” and told them, before jurors arrived, that the trial was not about whether AI has “damaged humanity.”
Still, the judge’s warning did not prevent testimony from touching on potential harms. Witness accounts and expert framing addressed issues including workforce disruptions and Musk’s warnings that superhuman AI might one day become existential. Musk himself testified the previous week, including when he was asked to describe artificial general intelligence, a term he used for advanced AI that surpasses humans at many tasks.
Musk told the court that artificial general intelligence is when AI becomes “as smart as any human,” and he added that “we are getting close to that point,” saying that AI could become smarter than any human “as soon as next year.” Musk said he had “extreme concerns” about AI and that he wanted a “counterpoint” to Google at a time when he said it had “all the money, all the computers and all the talent” for AI. In that context, Musk told the court that he was “concerned AI would be a double-edged sword.”
During Musk’s testimony, the judge also raised skepticism about how Musk’s stated warnings align with his investments. Gonzalez Rogers pointed out that Musk, “despite these risks, is creating a company that is in the exact same space,” referring to his xAI artificial intelligence company, which launched in 2023 and merged with Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.
As the trial continued, OpenAI’s side argued that its own goals are rooted in public benefit and mission-first development. OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, a defendant in Musk’s lawsuit along with Altman and the company, testified that he thought the technology OpenAI was developing was “transformative,” and that it was “about humanity as a whole.” Brockman also said his No. 1 goal was always the “mission” of OpenAI and testified that Musk sought unilateral control over the company.
Brockman testified about how Musk’s views evolved over time during discussions about leadership at OpenAI. He recalled a meeting where Musk initially seemed open to the idea of Altman serving as OpenAI’s CEO, but that, in the end, “he said people needed to know he was in charge.”
Later in the trial, expert witness testimony further linked the case’s competition narrative to potential existential risk. AI pioneer Stuart Russell, called by Musk’s lawyers as an expert witness at a rate of $5,000 an hour, warned the jury that the contest over AI’s future could be dangerous in itself. Russell said that the “winner take all” power struggle over AI’s future is threatening humanity, according to the testimony presented in court.
Russell’s testimony also listed a range of alleged AI harms, including racial and gender discrimination, jobs displacement, misinformation, and emotional attachments that, he said, can take some users of AI chatbots into spirals of psychosis. He told the court that whichever company develops AGI first would gain a “very big advantage” and extend that lead over others, using the initials for artificial general intelligence.
Beyond seeking damages, Musk is also asking the jury to order Altman’s ouster from OpenAI’s board. If Musk wins on that request, the lawsuit could derail OpenAI’s plans for an initial public offering of its shares, according to the reporting. The unresolved questions for the jury, however, are tethered to whether OpenAI’s leaders violated the charitable mission Musk says was central to the company’s founding.